I'm considering running a Changeling: The Dreaming game set in an urban environment.

Top possibilities: New Orleans, Boston, or New York.

There will be some house rules to speed up things like combat for PBP and I will be incorporating some of what we know of C20 into this game. Specifics will come in time.

The drama and adventures this game will focus on are drawn from several conflicts presented in Changeling: The Dreaming. Namely the tension inherent in balancing your Mortal and Fae lives and obligations. The game will also draw on the following conflicts: Unseelie vs Seelie Courts. Nightmares vs Dreams. Grumps vs Wilder vs Childlings. Nobles vs Commoners. Mists vs Bedlam.

The tone of the game will vary. We will draw from the original, sometimes nightmare-like Grimm's Fairy Tales and from the sillier side of children's daydreams. This is part of the Nightmares vs Dreams conflict mentioned above. We will tend toward a balanced approach that dips into both silliness and horror from time to time.

And since these always seem to come up: Science can inspire. Age only makes it a bit harder to resist Banality. Unseelie embody Chaos and Seelie embody Order. Glamour is inspiration. Banality can be the absence of inspiration or the Nothing that consumes it.

Any takers?
This message was last edited by the user at 03:29, Tue 26 Apr 2016.

That sounds pretty cool.
I never had the chance to play any sort of Changeling game but was always intrigued by the game.
What's C20 though?

In reply to Cappadocius (msg # 2):

Changeling The Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition

I'd be interested, pending campaign details and such things and all.

Sidhe allowable as pcs?

In reply to MarkK (msg # 4):

My plan was to run a more character-focused game than specific plots and adventures, though there would definitely be some used to kick things off or keep things moving.

Sidhe PCs? Depends on how sidhe we're talking. I generally like to avoid focusing on the Houses and tend to side fairly heavily with the commoner in the Commoner vs Noble conflict. So a sidhe that is part of the nobility but sees where the commoners are coming from and works with them to improve things, absolutely. But a pretentious and delicate sidhe noble trying to grind the commoners under their heel, not so much as a PC... more like a main villain.

And I definitely want to avoid hardcore PVP, so...

My sidhe characters tend to skew reformist in political leanings, so, as long as the campaign theme isn't mass revolution or something and I'm not going to find myself in "the rest of my kith is basically as depicted in kithbook eshu" shenanigans, I wouldn't imagine it being an issue.

Are you picturing starting characters? Other?

Having never played I would very much go with starting character myself (though in a story/rp-oriented game I don't care if all PCs aren't the same).

As far as character-focused though, what do you mean?
Are you thinking about focusing on the characters as a storyteller, or as a player-driven kinda plot?


EDITed out the character ideas for reasons.
This message was last edited by the user at 05:19, Wed 27 Apr 2016.

In reply to Cappadocius (msg # 7):

Definitely starting characters.

But don't worry about characters till the game garners enough interest and we actually get started. The mods frown on character talk in IC threads.

By character-focused I just mean that the players and characters will largely determine the way the game goes. You know that feeling you get when you're playing a module and your character doesn't really matter, they're just a cog in a machine? That's plot-focused. What I want to do is basically the opposite of that. The game will be about the characters. Their struggles and triumphs.

If you're familiar with Powered by the Apocalypse games at all, I plan on basically running it like that. I'll ask lots of questions and base the game on the players' answers. We play to find out what happens. The characters won't always get what they want, but the challenges will be personal and the characters will matter to the story.

Not familiar with that at all.
Basically just wondering if you would go sandbox or would have plots but focus more on the characters rather than on a predetermined story. Sounds like the latter?
I mean I played V:tM and W:tA, but Changeling is a whole other deal and sandboxing in there I'd probably feel lost. :P

In reply to Cappadocius (msg # 9):

No predetermined plots, but not sandbox either. More like hooks or story starters and letting the players and characters just go after the initial set up. Create some threats, cultivate tension, and play to see what happens. But nothing resembling a predefined plot.

The premise of Changeling is mortal bodies infused with faerie souls. You have a mortal life and a changeling life. Delve too deep into your changeling life and you go insane; delve too deep into your mortal life and your changeling side withers and dies. So you have to go back and forth between them. Spinning plates on both sides of that divide. That's the mortal vs fae conflict I mentioned.

The Seelie and Unseelie courts are the changeling equivalent to the Cam and the Sabbat... sort of. The Seelie are all about keeping order and tradition, the Unseelie are all about change and revolution and a good time. Though Seelie aren't good, nor are the Unseelie bad. It's Order vs Chaos.

You also have Nobles vs Commoners. Just like it sounds. You have the ruling sidhe and the noble houses. They run the show most places, Seelie or Unseelie. The commoners are the working stiffs. They do all the work and keep things going while the nobles reap most of the rewards and own/control most everything.

The characters have loyalties all over that map. Your mother needs you to do something for her and no one else can help, but the Duke wants you to watch some redcap commoner who's stirring up trouble. The Unseelie court contacts you for a bit of a favor, but the Seelie court has warned against any contact. You have a physics test in the morning but your Oathcircle needs you to help clear the monsters out of a freehold they just discovered. The game is about how you juggle those. At least, this game is about how you juggle those. Other Changeling games focus on other things.

Going on the mythic quest and securing a new freehold but getting home in time for lights out. Doing that one favor for the Unseelie because as long as no one finds out, what could it hurt? Helping your mom, but sneaking out to watch the redcap and finding out he's not a rabble-rouser but was once a loyal friend to the Duke and was betrayed... only to get home and get the third degree.

Okay that sounds like amazing roleplay opportunities, I am very much in.

considering i just finished running a changeling game in meatspace and i never get to play, i would absolutely be interested in this... but, full disclosure, i'm going to be moving soon and my job situation may complicate things somewhat. i wouldn't just ghost, and i imagine it won't be too hard to find at least some time to drop onto rpol and catch up once a day or a little less often, but something could come up. if you don't want to count that as an actual vote of interest, i would understand completely.

Withdrawing interest, but you look to have several people interested enough anywho, which is a good enough starting point. Good luck with the game.

This message was deleted by a moderator, as it was a bump, at 18:21, Sun 01 May 2016.

Come on over...

link to another game